Black Friday is a hectic shopping day that I try to avoid. However, my laptop was broken physically. The programs and such still work, but I can’t use it for work.
So, I decided to get a new laptop on Black Friday and Staples had a good deal on a Toshiba (the brand I trust). I went to their South Plainfield NJ location to get it.
Things went relatively smooth at first. There was nobody there at 7 am (an hour after opening) and I met an Associate (not sure of his name because he didn’t have a tag on) who gave me the laptop I wanted for $399 (technically $449 with a $50 rebate). He also sold me on a 3-year warranty and Microsoft Office for $149 more.
But there was a catch I did not see. The Staples Associate did not tell me that this was for a 1-year subscription to Microsoft Office. I had no idea they did that for Office, especially when the guy told me that Office cost $150 by itself. To add insult to injury, he never gave me a Product Key to use, so I went back to Staples asking questions.
I eventually spoke with a manager, Nicole Egnezzo, about the issues I was having. Even though everything got resolved, it made the experience for me go from bad to worse.
When speaking with Nicole, I told her that I wanted the 2-year warranty instead and opt out of Microsoft Office since I didn’t want to pay for a subscription because of the language the original Associate used.
So, Egnezzo rang up the order again with the new warranty. Of course, she tried to ring up the Microsoft Office subscription as well and I told her to take it off. That got me from dissatisfied to angry… why would I get a lower warranty and buy Office separately when you had a better deal for a longer warranty with the Office subscription in the price?
To add further insult to injury, Nicole asked me if I was told about their rewards program. I said that I didn’t know… so she tried to sell me on that! Even if it’s a corporate mandate, why on Earth would you try to sell more crap to an already unhappy customer? Use your brain, not your script. I literally told her, “let’s get this order done and then I’m done.”
That’s right: the customer service I received at the Staples in South Plainfield inspired me to never shop at Staples again. I sincerely hope that I don’t need to use my warranty in the next 3 years (1 year manufacturer, 2 year Staples) since I don’t want to deal with them again. Ever.
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